They lived at an estate called Sheffield Park in Sussex that her father had bought after inheriting a fortune from his uncle.

The theme of many of these plays was a question—whether a daughter would be allowed to choose her own husband or whether it would be imposed by her parents..[3] When she was twelve her intelligence attracted the interest of Edward Gibbon who was a close friend of her father.

Sir John and Lady Maria had commissioned a new hall to be constructed in 1818 in the south of the estate on a site then occupied by Park House.

They lived there for fifty years and there were 11 children of the marriage; twin sons and seven daughters survived to adulthood.

In 1896, her early letters were published as Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd (Lady Stanley of Alderley).